Page 42 of Renewal After Dark

“Sure, that’d work.”

He pulled into the driveway at his place—or was it their place now?Shut up, MK, and quit being weird.

“Let me feed Jax some lunch and change his diaper. Then we can go next door.”

“I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.”

She went upstairs and fed Jax some of the baby cereal he’d recently begun eating, along with applesauce. While he was strapped into the baby seat, she went to use the bathroom and then made herself a peanut butter sandwich.

When she was ready to meet Duke, she decided to carry Jax in the baby seat so he could sit and play with his toys while they surveyed what was left of her cabin. She’d put this task off for days, dreading what she would find there.

When Duke saw her coming down the stairs, he got up from his chair by the firepit.

He took the heavy baby seat from her as if it was the most natural thing for him to do. For someone who’d mostly raised himself, he had lovely manners.

She walked next to him down a well-worn path that led next door. “Rosemary and I made this path over years of visiting back and forth.”

“That’s very sweet. I’m so glad she had such a good friend in you out here.”

“She had a ton of friends out here. Everyone loved her.”

McKenzie thought she was prepared to see the damage to the cabin, but nothing could’ve prepared her for the sight they encountered around the final bend in the path. The cabin she and her grandmother had loved so much had been reduced to splinters.

“Oh. Oh my God.” Tears appeared out of nowhere and quickly spilled over. There was nothing left but rubble.

Duke put an arm around her shoulders. “I know it looks bad, but the good news is you guys got out of there before it collapsed.”

She nodded, but the tears kept coming. How could there be anything worth saving in there?

While Duke held the baby carrier, she walked around the pile of wood and shingles and other building materials, looking for anything salvageable.

“Don’t get too close,” Duke said. “You don’t want it to shift and come down on you.”

“I can see the stroller!”

“Let me get it.” He walked around to join her, handing the baby seat to her to hold while he got down on his knees to reach in to retrieve the folded stroller. “Here you go.”

She pushed some buttons and had the stroller unfolded in a matter of seconds. “Well, that’s a relief. One less thing I need to replace.”

McKenzie’s phone rang, and she took the call from her mother, who’d texted yesterday and asked her to call.

“Thank goodness you finally answered.”

“I’m so sorry. I should’ve called, but I’ve been figuring out what to do about the cabin?—”

“What’s wrong with the cabin?”

“It’s a pile of rubble.”

“Oh no. Well, I guess you’ll be coming home, then.”

That’s what she’d prefer, but McKenzie couldn’t go back to living with her mother and her nonstop critiques of every decision she made. “We’re talking to the insurance company and a guy out here who does construction.”

“What do you do in the meantime?”

“A friend of Gran’s has loaned me an apartment over his garage. He said I can stay there as long as I need to.”

“In exchange for what?”

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